Cole Harbour’s Sidney Crosby, captain of the Canadian men’s hockey team that captured gold at the Sochi Olympics, was the biggest name to win an award, getting the nod as male team athlete of the year at the 18th annual ceremony, held at the World Trade and Convention Centre in downtown Halifax.

Lisa Haley, of Westville, who was an assistant coach on the Canadian women’s hockey team that also brought home the gold, was named the coach of the year.

“Thanks for all you did to give me the opportunities to succeed #smalltownsbigdreams,” tweeted Haley, who was not present at the ceremony, in response to both Hockey Nova Scotia and Sport Nova Scotia.

Saint Mary’s basketball star Justine Colley, 22, of East Preston, took female team athlete of the year honours after she ended her collegiate career as the Canadian Interuniversity Sport all-time scoring leader.

It’s not her only accolade this spring.

In April, she was named the top female athlete in CIS for 2013-14, following a season in which she won a fourth straight AUS scoring title with 20.8 points per game, the third-best total in the CIS, and led the country in assists and steals.

Still, she was surprised to hear her named called Saturday night.

“I read the other bios of the other two athletes and I was convinced that one of them was definitely going to take it away, and luckily I was chosen and I’m really happy for the honour,” she said after the event.

“I had an amazing run at the college level and I’m really happy with how it ended, and obviously this is just the icing on the cake.”

Halifax kayaker Mark de Jonge, a bronze-medal winner at the 2012 London Olympics in the K-1 200, was the overall winner in the individual male athlete category.

Earlier this month, de Jonge won a gold medal in the K-1 200 at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup stop in Racice, Czech Republic, and a silver the following week in Hungary.

“It’s a nice reminder of my accomplishments last year, (even though) it is now kind of mid-season,” he said. “I’m really happy to be doing as well as I am and trying to keep the momentum up at the Worlds.”

Alex Duckworth of Kingsburg took individual female honours. She finished 17th in the female halfpipe competition in Sochi.

Junior kayakers Ailish McNulty and Anna Hetzler were named the team of the year for their efforts at the 2013 Canada Games, where they won gold in the K-2 500 metre under-21 category. They were also members of the gold-medal winning K-4 200 metre crew, as well as the K-4 500 metre team that won silver.

They also finished seventh at the 2013 under-23 world championships in Welland, Ont.

“This sport takes a lot of hard work and dedication and commitment...and we’ve had to give up a lot. We’ve had to sacrifice being a normal teenager to do what we do every day and every night, waking up at 5 a.m. to train while other people are sleeping in,” McNulty said.

“And once you get to this point in the sport where you have the opportunity to win these sorts of awards, it lets you know that you’re doing it for something bigger than just yourself.”

Both McNulty and Hetzler, 18, said they were humbled to be surrounded by so many local athletes.

“It kind of shows that Nova Scotia, while we are small, we’re definitely a force to be reckoned with,” Hetzler said.

Thorne Sutherland of Lunenburg, the only FIG Brevet 1 judge in the province, is the official of the year for his work in gymnastics, a sport he has been officiating for almost 20 years.

There were three winners for association of the year: softball’s Mount Uniacke Mustangs, the Provincial Taekwondo Society of Nova Scotia, and the triathlon Winter Multisports Race Series Society.